Interviews

Mark Little On … Caveman & the Battle of the Sexes

Australian actor-comedian Mark Little is currently reprising his performance in Rob Becker’s solo show Defending the Caveman. The 1991 comedy about gender differences had its West End premiere ten years ago, when it won an Olivier for Best Entertainment. Little first came to the British public’s attention as Joe Mangel in Aussie soap Neighbours, which he followed up on UK television with presenting stints on the likes of The Big Breakfast. In addition to his own stand-up shows, Little’s stage credits include Boy George musical Taboo, Safari Party, Love’s Labour’s Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and A Chorus of Disapproval. On film, he’s appeared in Blackball and Evil Angels.

Editorial Staff
London's West End

Ten years ago when Defending the Caveman was here the first time around, it was in the West End for nine months, and I was awarded a Laurence Olivier Award for that stint, which was really exciting. Then I went on the road with it for about three years around the UK. Now it’s back “by popular demand”. The theatres want it and there’s still a lot of people so we’re taking the plunge.

The piece has a gentle politic to it that’s really important in this day and age. I do believe that modern man is in a bit of a crisis as to their identity, as to what is a man’s job and what a man is supposed to be. The play touches on that really well and this silly battle of the sexes. As men and women, we do have different cultures and different ways of approaching things. Finding a way of putting those together is important for the ongoing of the species. The play touches on all these things, and it’s so well observed, it’s pretty well definitive.

The story is that John Gray saw an early workshop of Defending the Caveman, when Rob Becker was first doing it in America, and then he wrote his book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus on the back of what he’d seen in the play. I half-believe that. Of course, he put them on different planets – I prefer men and women on the same planet!

I was originally given the task of anglicising Caveman for a British audience. It’s still based on this prehistoric idea that will never change, and anthropologically, it’s right on track. But since 1990, things in society have changed – we now have the metro-sexual male, for instance. So, I’ve been given carte blanche to make it more relevant, more contemporary and, actually, more theatrical. I’ve also got a woman director on board – my wife, Cath Farr, who was a practicing feminist throughout the 1970s.

A lot of women go to this play, a lot of them dragging their husbands along. It’s a great one to see with your partner. But anyone who’s ever been in a relationship for more than six months will identify with it. Gay couples love it, and young guys view a lot of it through their mothers. It enlightens men about themselves and enlightens women about men. We live in a time of limited respect for each other and the play is really looking at understanding the differences between men and women and restoring some of that respect. It’s also really clever, really funny – and just great entertainment.

This play is still going in places like America and South Africa, it’s just been running and running and running. The plan after this season is to go back on the road and then come back again to Leicester Square to make that the home of Defending the Caveman in London. So we could be at it for another couple of years now.

Defending the Caveman is running at London’s Leicester Square Theatre, where it’s extended until 5 April 2009, after which it embarks on a three-month regional tour.